how do folks keep warm in a teardrop at nights.

[absolutsnwbrdr]

Best way? A good 2-person sleeping bag, and another warm body.

I have 2 identical sleeping bags from years ago that I can unzip each of them completely, and then zip them together to make one big one. It works pretty well.

[Oldragbaggers]

+1 what Zach said.

You can hang a lantern inside for a bit to get it started warming up. They put off a surprising amount of heat in a small space. Then once you crawl into the sleeping bag cuddling will do the rest. The only downside is crawling OUT of the bag in the morning.

[planovet]

We use a small ceramic heater to preheat the tear before we get in. We turn it off once we are in and our body heat pretty much heats the interior the rest of the night. My walls and ceiling are pretty thick and well insulated, that helps also.

[jonnyo]

i have tested the cold winter camping with our little trailer. I insulated with 1 inch pink board for wall and roof and 2 inches on the floor. At -15 to -20 F, i was about to kept it at a nice 75-80f inside with a simple ceramic heater at 700watts power. I did start it at 1500 watts to warm up!



overall, i would say we rarely need the heater. it really as to go under 35f to needed it as even with window open, me and my wife in it will kept it in the 50s just with 2 body in a 5'X7' box......



we will soon start brining our puppy german Shepperd camping with us.... at 60lbs...she should be a decent source of natural heat!!!!

[CJflyer]

The Country Squire has about 200 cubic feet of space in the cabin. The walls and ceiling are insulated with Styrofoam at about an inch and a half thick. We bought a little electric heater that measures about 8x6 inches and tried to use it once while in the 30-40 degree range. It was overkill! We have found that just two warm bodies in such a close space keeps it nice for sleeping. We keep the vent open of course to breath but also to keep the humidity down. Just the act of breathing puts off a bunch of moisture. We keep the little heater in the camper and would use it to pre-heat if necessary but that has rarely been the case. For us cold is more bothersome during the day (awake) hours than at bedtime.

Other options:

Heat up a brick in or by the fire, wrap it in a towel and put in with you as you tuck in for the night.
Line your floor with some Heat Tape used for keeping pipes above freezing. Some of that may even have a thermostat built in.
Electric blanket
Run an in-floor manifold system that can be hooked up to a vessel heated by your campfire. Sounds a bit complex but if you camp as much in cold temps as hot perhaps its worth the engineering.

As always, be careful no matter what you do. There are many folks that are stone cold today just because they wanted to be a little warmer. There are many ways a man can go that lead to a shortened life.

[PSBreen]

All of those are great ideas. The lantern trick works great. So far we've been very comfortable in our trailer. The coldest outside temperature we've recorded while camping is 34°F. The inside of our trailer stays at about 60°F at that temp. That's actually pretty comfortable for us but we do keep a spare blanket at the foot of the bed just in cause. We also have two halogen reading lights in the trailer and found out that they will raise the inside temperature 5-6°in about 30 minutes.

[dwgriff1]

I have slept in mine down to 6 degrees.
Some bedding warms easier than others, choose carefully.
Sleeping with another warm body (and one with whom you like to snuggle) is another.
My tear is insulated and when it is really cold I leave the window open just a crack, which allows body heat to warm the inside, and yet provides some fresh air.
My wife always had cold feet, lacking a real rubber hot water bottle I would fill a couple of metal or plastic water bottles with hot water and put them in the bed a while before going to bed. That one was a life saver (it kept her icy feet off of my shins till I warmed up a bit)!
Where I camp an electric heater would not be possible and I don't really want a fuel burner in my sleeping space.

dave

[Kevin & Sandy]

I know what NOT to do !!!! It was kinda chilly and we were going to spend some time by the fire with friends for a while, so to preheat the TD I plugged in a spare section of ROPE LIGHTS and put them UNDER the comforter. It smelled like VERY hot plastic when we got back and the plastic tube of the rope lights was sticky, like it was about to melt !!!

I should have just laid them on top of the covers and I would have been fine, but I got to thinking that wouldn't do much. Never again !!!! I bought a small ceramic heater, works fine. We only use it to warm it up initially then shut it off.

[Ron Dickey]

Our old one is floors, ceiling, and walls are insulated it but door joint allow breathing air to can get in. We just use sheets and comforters we add as we need.

I have a friend who put small tin cans in each corner he puts candles inside. the in and out air goes through holes from the outside of the trailer. The cans keep him worm and are not attached to the roof so there is nothing to catch fire. He built in slides on the an sides to put in candle and light them.

there is also this type of heater you could hang it from the roof. Start it outside then blow out the candle and hang it.
http://www.tacticalintelligence.net/blo ... heater.htm

You could even heat up some rocks and hang them in a metal basket. one you are under the covers you should be just fine until morning. And a cold morning tells you you need to start up some heat like build a fire.

also Rocket Stoves heat quickly and can be made so the exhaust becomes a heater.

[Rlowell]

We do not have that issue here in the south. We worry about some a/c almost year around.
The Ketza is well insulated with one inch of white foam all around but the floor. Insulation is one of the "must haves" for year round camping in my book.

Mu 2 cents,

Rod

[Tinbasher]

I recently lost a buddy due to Carbon Monoxide and the stove was OUTSIDE the tent but under the fly. I would really, really urge you all never to use a stove or a lantern inside a tear

[razorback]

I have posted what we have in our td several times over the years. If you have electricity I believe this is the best solution.
A radiant panel heater that is 18" x 24" x 3/8 inch thick and mounts on the wall close to the floor on my wife's side. It does not get hot enough to combust any material that comes in contact with the panel. She can get inside from the cold and place her sock covered feet directly on the panel. It is a very soft heat that does not dry out the air. I plug the panel into a thermostat and plug the thermostat into an electrical outlet. Set the thermostat to whatever temp works for you and the inside of the td from the top of the bedding to the ceiling of the td will be the temperature set on the thermostat. Come inside to the perfect temp and wake up to the perfect temp. The company I used was http://www.electricheatsource.com I bought mine in 2007 and at that time they had two models.
Mine was the 18 x 24 inch unit. They had a 24 X 24 unit but it was too tall for the space under my shelf. I paid 79 dollars for the heater and 45 dollars for the thermostat. My wife will not go camping if she is cold at night. This has been the perfect solution for us.
The lowest temp we have camped in is 23 degrees.
Larry

[doug hodder]

A woman over on the Tin Can Tourists also burned her standy to the ground last Memorial Day weekend with candles. I had a wife that almost did that to a house, what is it with women and candles? I'll warm the trailer before I get in with a lantern, but if it were me, I sure wouldn't plan on sitting in a tear with any sort of an open flame going. Doug

[alaska teardrop]

Good advice, Doug. But not even a seal oil lamp?

[Socal Tom]

If its really cold, I pre-heat the interior with a coleman radiant heater. Then I turn it off when we go to bed.
As I boy scout I would boil water and pour it into my canteen, wrap a towel around it and put it down by my feet in the sleeping bag--- that worked really well in the snow.

The coldest weather I've seen in mine was 29F, and really strong winds. That was before the roof was insulated, so I just had luann between me and the outside. I had two small dogs with me. It did get a little chilly inside that night.....I'm going to guess low 60s, maybe high 50s. I also close the hatch if its cold, that provides a bit more protection from the elements.
Tom